The long wait is over and the Phoenix force finally has a new host with amazing new abilities.
Avengers #44, by Jason Aaron and Javier Garrón, colors by David Curiel, and letters by VC’s Cory Petit, finally concluded the long-running contest for the host for the Phoenix force where all the heroes competed against each other to claim the prize. Maya Lopez, popularly known as Echo is a supporting character from the Daredevil comics, became the Phoenix’s champion and is the new host and wielder of the Phoenix force and its powers have added to her own existing amazing abilities.
Echo is a deaf Native American heroine who first appeared in Daredevil #9 and later came into a relationship with Matt Murdock, Daredevil himself. She was only an acrobatic martial artist heroine who had the ability to replicate other people’s movements before but now she wields one of the strongest powers in the universe and has become even stronger than before.
How The Phoenix Force Works
The Phoenix force is basically the most powerful cosmic power in the Marvel universe. The Phoenix Force derives its strength from the life force from all the living beings across the universe in the past and the future. With an unending source of power, there are no limits whatsoever to the things that can be accomplished by the one wielding that power.
Unfortunately, with such immense powers comes arrogance therefore everyone who becomes the host of the Phoenix force ends up being corrupted by its strength and ends up being the Dark Phoenix, losing all sense of morality and wreaking havoc everywhere. However, Echo seems to have full control over the Phoenix Force till now and it has given her whole new kinds of abilities.
Echo’s New Powers And Abilities
The first thing that Echo did as the Phoenix was drawing power from the Avengers who fought Namor the sub- mariner. This means that she now has energy absorption abilities. Echo can now fly and shoot fire projectiles at her enemies using the Phoenix force and while she summons that power, a group of birds, the Phoenix’s Raptor Manifestation, follows her. These manifestations are also seen in the New X-Men run by Grant Morrison, where Jean Grey is surrounded by such bird manifestations. However, Echo’s Raptors differed from those of Jean Grey. While Jean Grey was surrounded by few and huge birds, Echo’s manifestation created small birds which were larger in number.
In addition to that, the Phoenix force granted Echo the ability to use any martial arts fighting style during combat. What’s amazing is that she is also able to use fighting styles that she is not familiar with or even if she has never heard of that fighting style. During her fight with Namor, she demonstrates this ability and fights him using Atlantean martial arts, something that she must never have even heard of. She then attacks Namor with manifested guns which suggests that weapon manifestation is among the long list of her new abilities. Apart from these, she also has invulnerability making her invincible in battle.
As the issue reaches its end, Echo is reached by Jean Grey telepathically who tells her to keep her connections with others so as to retain control over the Phoenix force. “You’re a loner. [The Phoenix] likes loners. But you can’t let it isolate you from the things that make you human. Not if you want to keep your soul. And I hope for all of our sakes you do” Jean said. The true extent of her powers still remains to be seen in the future. It would be most amazing to see whether or not Echo retains full control of her power or is overwhelmed by it and gives in to power madness.
